In a year of historic presidential campaigns, busted prostitution rings and economic disaster, the biggest issue of the year, to my mind, was Kanye West’s much-anticipated appearance at McKale Center. Kanye’s concert brought several campus issues to the fore – for instance, why hasn’t the UA hosted a concert since Garth Brooks performed in 1997? The concert also placed the Associated Students of the University of Arizona under campus-wide scrutiny for their financial management after the Daily Wildcat reported a $150,000 loss from the concert. As it turned out, ASUA came out a few thousand dollars ahead, but the debate about student government’s fiscal responsibility is important: bringing Kanye West to campus is undeniably a popular move amongs the student body, which ASUA is meant to represent (and does a somewhat uneven job of doing so).

Nonetheless, the way our student government spends in the midst of a statewide budget crisis raise valuable questions about balancing student desires with fiscal realities. Most important, however, was the sheer number of Police Beat items detailing the ridiculous escapades of intoxicated students in the Daily Wildcat on the day following the concert. Kanye West comes to Tucson for a few hours and reduces the UA student body to a mob of hedonists on a school night – for any debauchery-loving student, that’s kind of a big deal.

Sarah Devlin is a sophomore majoring in English and political science.